Sword Art Online: A Re-telling
by zgamer200
Summary: Follow Kirito Floor-by-Floor as his adventures in Sword Art Online are retold! Follow him from Floor 2 onwards as he struggles to survive in this death game. Why? Because you deserve to see more than the few floors of Sword Art Online that the Light Novels, manga and anime gave to us!
1. Ch 1: Floor 2(Part 1)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non-original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_My first ever fanfiction story, so please, any criticism would be nice. Obviously I'd prefer if it were not in the form of flames, but knowing how the internet works, that's about as likely as all of us dying in a few days(For future readers, this story chapter was written Dec 19, 2012). Anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoy my first ever story._

_Continuing, this story is going to be a floor by floor story that follows Kirito and his path to becoming strong enough to survive in this death game. Floors that were told in the Light Novels or in the anime will not be included, so no Floor 1, 28, etc I will likely skip a few floors here and there just because writing nearly 70 Floors worth of content in a dizzying prospect for me, but I should be writing about at least 20 of the non-story included floors. I don't actually know if I'm allowed to do this because apparently the same thing is actually already happening canonically by the author, but I have yet to read those as I'm not living in Japan, so I cannot purchase the books, and even if I could purchase them, I am unable to read Japanese anyway, and the site I read the SAO Light Novels on have not yet translated them into English._

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2**

Kirito was busy trying to level up. His current level at 14, he felt a few more levels couldn't hurt, and as such, he continued to farm the monsters that appeared. The monsters were all low level creatures of course, but being that the clearing group had only made it to floor 2, they were decently strong.

The monsters looked like little goblin like creatures, maybe about 3 feet tall each. Their skin colors ranged from a pale green reminiscent of warm summer grass, to a dark green similar in color to the leaves on Evergreens**(1)**. Their faces were covered in boils, and they each carried a small dagger with light, leather armor. They did not look threatening, but Kirito, having played many other RPG games, had learned that while goblins themselves were not terribly powerful alone, in groups, they could be highly dangerous.

Quickly defeating each goblin with the low level Sword Skill Horizontal**(2)**, he watched as his experience steadily filled up enough to reach level 15. A few goblins managed to hit him with some weak attacks, but having 2900 HP and each of the goblin's attacks doing only 100 damage per hit, he felt no need to be worried. A few minutes later, a white screen appeared in front of him stating he had reached level 15, and so he decided to head back to a small cottage he had rented. Having played the beta, he knew of extra areas besides for inns where he could spend a few nights at**(3)**.

Walking into a large clearing where several guilds were busy hunting, he walked down a dirt road that led to town. Looking around at the numerous guilds surrounding him, he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt and sadness. It wasn't easy being a solo player. No one to talk to, no one to help you when you might need it, no one you could call a friend. But after he had left Klein the way he did on the 1st Floor, he was not willing to forgive himself and join a guild. And besides for that he was also a beater. No guild would want him, he would simply bring them terrible publicity.

Heading into the town to grab a bite to eat before going to the cottage on outskirts of it, he went down the crowded street to an NPC restaurant. The food that NPCs made was rather bland, but it was a heck of a lot better than what he could make with no cooking skill whatsoever. Taking a seat in a corner table, he waited for the waitress to come over while looking at the menu. Lifting his right hand, putting his thumb and pointer finger together, then quickly pulling them apart, he opened up the menu screen**(4)**. Deciding on a simple order of a salad, soup and bread, he gave the waitress his order, and gulped down the water she had brought to his table when coming over.

Waiting for his food to arrive, his thoughts wandered back to a certain orange haired girl who had been a big help in defeating the first floor boss. He wondered if she had joined a guild yet, and if she had, which one had she joined? So early in the game, the top guilds had yet to be established, but he was sure she would be able to instinctively tell if the guild would be strong or not. His thoughts broke as his food arrived.

Wolfing down the rather bland food, he left quickly and headed down a darkened road towards the cottage he had rented for the past several days. In order to be able to rent out the basement area of the cottage, which consisted of two queen size beds, a full size bathroom and small kitchen area, one had to complete the "Save Dog" quest. Already knowing how to do it, and having been the very first player to reach Floor 2, he immediately headed there after opening up the 2nd Floor to the rest of the players.

He had learned during the Beta Test that the feel of water was not reproduced to 100% authenticity by the NerveGear, but he still decided to take a bath anyway, as it had become part of his nightly ritual after renting the cottage's basement. Unequipping his clothes, he stepped into the bath and let his mind slip away from him. He just let his troubles for the moment melt away and his body responded lazily, letting himself lay at the bottom of the tub.

Finishing his bath, he went over to the small sofa plopped down in the middle of the room with a small coffee table in front of it where he left his latest issue of MMO Weekly on. Scanning the virtual screen for anything important, his mind wandered to a serious article, a rare treat as MMO Weekly was just usually filled with gossip and popularity polls.

The article was a help request by a player named "Honoka". In it the player was asking for help to save his friend who had gotten trapped in the second floor dungeon. So far, no one had replied. Deciding that it wasn't his problem, Kirito turned off the virtual screen and headed towards his bed. Turning the lights off, he lay in his bed, waiting for sleep to overwhelm him. But his mind kept wandering back to the help request h had seen. He had told himself it wasn't his problem, but it kept bothering him. Finally, his breath steadied, he found a comfortable position on the bed, and he drifted off into a deep sleep.

1- What is usually used for Christmas Trees if you don't know what an Evergreen is.

2- I took a page from the Alicization Arc where the player must be both a high enough level and have a strong enough weapon to use higher level sword skills, so no Vertical Square just yet.

3- I assume there would be extra areas to spend nights at, I mean, why would they have only inns they could stay at in such a complex game? I'm pretty sure there would be extra little things like this a game like SAO.

4- when watching the SAO anime I don't remember ever seeing them actually having menus when they were at restaurants, so I assumed it was simply the white screen menu that pops up.

_Well that's the end of Chapter 1 of my first ever fanfiction story. I hope you enjoyed it. I should be able to have Chapter 2 up by tomorrow, if not by Thursday at the latest. So hopefully the few of you guys who actually read this can wait that long for Chapter 2._

_Thanks again for reading my first story. Criticism will be listened to, but please try to keep it not flamey. That would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!_


	2. Ch 2: Floor 2(Part 2)

_Hey guys, I'm back with Part 2 of Floor 2! I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed Part 1, but without further ado, let's continue on. To give you guys an idea of chapter lengths, I will do my best to not post chapters that are fewer than 1000 words, however, some 800-900 word chapters may happen every now and then. No one's perfect afterall. However, most should be 1000+ words, and hopefully a few chapters will end up being even longer than that._

_Oh, I should have mentioned this in Chapter 1, but I'm trying to keep this story as canonical as possible, so bear with me if I can't always do that._

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_And last but not least, I want to thank princess14147 for being my first ever follower!_

_Still searching for my first ever Favoriter and Reviewer though…_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 2)**

Awakened at 7 AM by the sound of his personal in head alarm clock that all players had, Kirito began his day. Grabbing his MMO Weekly from the top of the table, he equipped his Coat of Midnight and weapons, and looked through to see if anything new had popped up overnight**(1)**. Seeing nothing new, his eye wandered back to the help section where he saw the help request by Honoka.

Usually the Help Requests posted in MMOW**(2)** were along the lines of just helping to get information on how to get a certain weapon, how to complete a quest, which he felt was a bit odd as there were plenty of information brokers who could help them with such questions, or advertisements by players trying to get others to join their guild. But Honoka's request for legitimate help to save a friend's life in this death game was the first one Kirito could remember seeing. No one had responded to the request yet. Whenever a player wanted to respond to a post, you would tap it, and then simply type out a reply. Most of the Help Requests had about 5-10 replies apiece, but Honoka's had gone unanswered.

However, Kirito continued to ignore it, believing that if a player really was stuck somewhere in the 2nd Floor Dungeon, surely a group would come across him eventually and the player would be saved. There was no need for him to waste his time on finding this person, or so he continued to tell himself.

Following his morning routine of the past few days, Kirito went to a different restaurant from last night for breakfast. It was a small restaurant tucked away in a street corner. Not too many players went there this early in the day, though it did get rather crowded later on, so he felt it was the perfect place for him to go for his morning meals. Wolfing down a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs with a side of orange juice, he decided to enter the dungeon for the first time in a few days.

The past few days, Kirito had been busying himself going from level 10 to level 15, all but ignoring attempting to clear the Dungeon after his initial first day of leveling. However, now that he had been away from the front lines for a rather extended period of time, he felt he should get back to helping to clear it.

Exiting the small restaurant, he headed down the bricked road leading to the town entrance/ exit of the main town of the 2nd Floor called Glenden**(3)**. On his way out however, he noticed a pair of players arguing rather loudly. One was a broad man, about 6 feet tall, around 30 years old, wearing plate armor and had a large two-handed sword slung across his back. The other was a much smaller player, maybe about 5'4 and looked about 12, who had light leather armor on. He was holding a dagger in his right hand while his left held was resting just over a sheath of throwing picks. A small crowd had gathered around the two players. Looks of worry and enjoyment were mixed within the crowd. The makings of a fight between the two players was in progress.

However, Kirito simply walked past the scene, shaking his head and went onto a dirt road leading towards the 2nd Floor Dungeon. Kirito wondered what the two players were arguing about. The most likely scenario was that they were real life enemies that had both become part of rival guilds. Shaking his head of such thoughts as a group of three goblins approached him, he focused on the imminent battle that lay in front of him.

Pulling out his sword, he carefully approached the three enemies. The lead goblin began by slashing directly at Kirito's left side, which was seemingly unguarded as he used only a single handed sword in his right hand without a shield to guard his left side. Flicking his sword to parry the attack, he slashed directly at the goblin's chest. The goblin's appearance became fuzzy, and then it exploded into several blue fragments.

The other two goblins were not deterred however, and both attacked Kirito at once. He had learned though, that when two people attacked at once, usually it ended with their own weapons clashing, especially when the two were right next to each other as the goblins were. This was the reason for "switching" between party members, as it had come to be known, rather than all players in the party attacking all at once. The goblins' swords hit each other with a loud clang, and Kirito did not miss his chance to attack. Using the 2-hit sword skill Vertical Arc, he aimed the initial downward attack at the left goblin, and the attack going back up hit the right goblin, creating a blue V when it finished. A white screen appeared in front of him, confirming the end of the battle, and he moved on towards the Dungeon.

Reaching the entrance to the dungeon, Kirito checked his equipment and items one more time. He had brought several healing potions**(4)** with him, his Coat of Midnight still had nearly all of its durability left, and his sword, Silver Sword, had good attack while also being rather durable. Seeing he was well prepared, he entered the dungeon.

Having not entered the dungeon in a few days, it looked somewhat alien to him. It looked just like a cave system, with several forks in the cave that led to nowhere, and several that led far deeper into it. There were also several traps placed throughout the dungeon, one of which reminded Kirito of a foreign movie he had seen once, but could not remember the name of. If you were unlucky enough to choose the wrong cave when you came to a fork, you could trigger a trap that sent a huge boulder flying down that cave**(5)**. He'd heard several stories of players dying that way. There were torches placed about every 10 feet on either side of the cave walls, but it did little to help with the visibility. In here, Kirito was truly thankful for his Night Vision ability, as it allowed him to see in the dark. Opening up the menu to check out the area of the Dungeon he had mapped out days before, he walked down to the furthest point that he had gotten to before exiting the dungeon those few days before. He encountered a few enemies, but the Hobgoblins, much larger versions of goblins each coming in at about 7 feet tall with heavy plate armor and clubs for weapons, were easily defeated, as they usually traveled alone, rather than in groups like regular goblins.

Going further into the dungeon, he saw a couple of guilds that were also still exploring. Kirito figured that the Boss Room must not have been found yet if this was still happening. Seeing a Hobgoblin up ahead, Kirito pulled out his sword and quickly ran into it, taking it by surprise. Using the sword skill Vertical to slash at it diagonally, he quickly depleted most of its HP. Less than a second later**(6)**, the Hobgoblin still stunned, he finished it off with yet another Vertical slash.

Checking the time, he saw that it was close to 2 PM now, and he began to notice that he had become rather hungry. Opening his menu, he selected a pouch that he had packed with black bread and water he had purchased before leaving town. His only real complaint was that he no longer had any cream he had gotten from an earlier quest to add to the rather dry, hard, tasteless bread, but he forced it down anyway. Deciding to check his items once more as he continued to munch on the bread, he heard a scream coming from just down the corridor from where he was sitting.

Running to see what caused the scream, he saw a female player on her knees holding a one-handed sword and shield. She was surrounded by a group of four Hobgoblins. Kirito could not figure out how it happened though, as they were almost always solitary creatures, and even when he did see a group of them, it was never more than two at once. The next thing that he noticed was that the girl's HP was in the red zone. She was dangerously close to being killed by the Hobgoblins, and having her brain microwaved by the NerveGear.

Not thinking about it and letting his instincts take over, Kirito charged right at the Hobgoblins.

_1- In this story MMO Weekly isn't really weekly so much as always updating, but buying a copy of it is rather expensive as it is only a one-time buy._

_2- I'll be abbreviating it to MMOW from now on._

_3- Shout out for another Light Novel/manga/anime series! Tell me in a review if you knew which one!_

_4- I don't think they'd be able to get Healing Crystals until later on, being that it's such a powerful and highly useful item. Probably around Floor 15-20 is when I'll add it in._

_5- Another shout out to one of my favorite movie series!_

_6- Lower level sword skills have less cooldown, so yes, Kirito can do that._

_Oh! Cliffhanger ending here! Kirto has just charged in at four Hobgoblins, which alone are easy enough to beat, but four at once? Although my guess is that you guys can tell who this mystery female player is already._

_Well thanks for reading Chapter 2: Floor 2 Part 2! Please Read x Review!_


	3. Ch 3: Floor 2(Part 3)

_Hey guys! Welcome to Chapter 3(assuming I still have readers by Chapter 3 of this terrible fanfiction story of mine) of SAO: A Re-Telling! This will, obviously, continue from the point where Chapter 2 left off. I hope you enjoy!_

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Shout out to _AKAAkira_, my first ever reviewer! And guess what? It wasn't a flame! Yippee!_

_Well now that all that is out of the way, please, enjoy Chapter 3!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 3)**

Slashing out at the first Hobgoblin he reached, Kirito hammered home a fierce Horizontal Sword Skill, the power of the attack having been increased with his running start. Taking no time to think through his situation, he moved as fast as he could once the cooldown period was over, and attacked the Hobgoblin that had now flanked him on his right side with a Vertical Slash. However, a third one had also flanked his left side, and a now helpless Kirito was struck hard in the chest by its merciless club.

Knocked backwards by the impact of the club, Kirito clutched his chest and raised his sword while looking at the upper left hand corner of his vision. It was still in the green area, but his HP had dropped from 3100 down to 2500 in a single blow. He reasoned that this was why Kayaba Akihiko had programmed it so that they almost never travelled in groups, as their attacks were fearsome, and did many times the amount of damage that a single Goblin could do. A lower level player without a party would stand little chance against 2 of these things. And Kirito, even though he was level 15 and having the experience of being a beta player, was perhaps even himself outmatched against four of these monsters.

The four Hobgoblins seemed to forget about the girl that they had nearly killed earlier, and were all walking towards where Kirito had been knocked back to. They were advancing in a 2x2 formation, and the lead Hobgoblins had their clubs raised high over their heads, the clubs glowing. Kirito recognized the Sword Skill as Vorpal Strike. It was a powerful, downward 1-Strike Sword Skill that had double the reach of the actual weapon, however, the cooldown for it was rather long**(1)**, and being a solo player as he was, Kirito rarely used it himself. However, with a party made up of four formidable Hobgoblins, it would be a highly effective attack to use.

Kirito instinctively realized that his only chance to defeat them would be to somehow miraculously dodge both Vorpal Strikes, and then attack the two rear Hobgoblins simultaneously with his Vertical Arc Sword Skill while the two Hobgoblins in front were still in the cooldown phases of their attack. Even with his speed however, he wasn't 100% sure he'd be able to pull it off. But he knew he had to try. He wasn't going to just leave that female player there the way she was. So he once again rushed the four Hobgoblins, hoping to perhaps catch them off-guard and make it easier to dodge their attacks.

As he had hoped, the two frontward Hobgoblins were taken by surprise, but still managed to launch their attacks against him. He was able to successfully dodge the Vorpal Strike coming from his left, but it seemed that the AI for the Hobgoblins was better than for the regular Goblins, as the two did not attack him at once, which may have resulted in both having their clubs hit each other. Instead, the right frontward Hobgoblin activated his Sword Skill about half a second after the left one did, and Kirito was unable to fully dodge the second attack. It brushed against his right shoulder as he turned the corner to get behind the group of Hobgoblins, and using all of his willpower to ignore the pain he felt from the powerful blow, he activated Vertical Arc and slashed at both rearguards, creating a perfect, bright blue V in the air.

Not letting his opponents react, he quickly lashed out without any sword skills against the two Hobgoblins, reducing their HPs to the red zone, before finishing both rearguards off with a Horizontal. However, the simultaneous activation of so many Sword Skills, along with the still lingering pain from the frontguard's Vorpal Strike caused him to stagger, and he fell down after using Horizontal, his sword falling from his hand and clattering to the ground a few yards away from his body, now lying face first on the cave floor.

Completely helpless and free to be attacked by his enemies, the Hobgoblins both activated another set of Vorpal Strikes to try to finish off the injured Kirito, who noticed that his HP had dropped to the Yellow Zone, now down to 1500 of 3100 HP after taking the initial Vorpal Strike.

Several different thoughts crossed Kirito's mind as the two Hobgoblin's clubs seemed to go in slow-motion as he watched them. He wondered if Klein and his friends were alright. He wondered if he'd been able to help Asuna at least, with his advice of telling her to join a guild. Most of all, he wondered how his mother and his sister, who was really his cousin, would be able to handle his death.

Then all of a sudden, the girl he had been trying to protect emerged from out of nowhere, and slashed at both Hobgoblins before the Vorpal Strikes were fully activated, cancelling them out. Yelling at Kirito to, "Get up," she then lashed out at both temporarily stunned Hobgoblins with her shield**(2)**, killing the one that Kirito had damaged with his first attack at the very beginning of the battle.

Kirito, now over his shock of seeing her join the battle, fumbled a little getting up, but managed to pick up his Silver Sword and attacked the last remaining Hobgoblin with a Vorpal Strike of his own. Vanishing with a shower of blue and white shards, a white screen appeared in front of the two players that fought against the four Hobgoblins, confirming the end of the battle.

At a bit of a loss at what to do now with the battle over he decided to introduce, but fumbled over his words and he barely managed to say, "Um, hi there. I'm Kirito. Thanks for the save just now."

The female player responded in turn, introducing herself as well with a bright smile, "Hello there, Kirito. Thanks a lot for saving me. I thought I was a goner having to fight all four of them alone. You must be really strong if you managed to hold your own against them the way you did. Anyway, my name is Honoka, and I came here searching for my friend who got trapped in the 2nd Floor Dungeon."

_1-These Sword Skills names and effects have been taken from the SAO Wiki, for those wondering, combined with my own discretion having read the light novel translations and subbed versions of the anime._

_2- Ala Heathcliff from episode 10 of the SAO anime, for those who couldn't picture what she just did._

_What's this!? Honoka has now magically appeared right in front of Kirito even after he decided to simply ignore her post! And he just saved her life too! What sorcery is this!?_

_On a more serious note, I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 3 of SAO: A Re-Telling. This was my first real attempt at a battle chapter, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys could leave me some feedback on how you think I did, and what you think I could do to improve upon them in future chapters._

_Also, my goal here was to make you guys forget that Honoka was there in the background while Kirito was fighting. Did I succeed or not?_

_Thanks for reading! Please continue to Read x Review!_


	4. Ch 4: Floor 2(Part 4)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 4. And sorry Jetler, looks like your guess that the girl was either Sachi or Silica was incorrect, because the damsel in distress was none other than my OC, Honoka! I mean seriously, I thought that I had made it pretty obvious, but I am the author, so that makes things a lot easier to guess._

_New formatting, I'm going to place "__**(number)**__" that will correspond with an end of chapter note at the bottom instead of just a random thought for all chapters from now on. I will be doing this for all previous chapters as well. I want to thank _Anime-Queen-2011 _for the idea(no, she didn't actually read this and give me that idea, it's just what she does with her own stories). She's my favorite author on this site, and she has some great Yu-Gi-Oh GX Fanfics, so please check them out. Trust me, they're great._

_On a more serious note(I think) I want to sincerely thank you guys. I now have 1 Favorite, 1 Follower and 2 Reviews! Thanks a lot! Now to get to 10 of each… Somehow…_

_Anyway, there's nothing else I wanted to say, so please enjoy Chapter 4!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 4)**

Kirito could only stand there dumbfounded, his mouth slightly open from shock, after hearing this female player's name. His first thought was that this couldn't be happening, that she had to be a different Honoka from the one that made the post he had read several times but continued to ignored over and over again each time he did. He didn't want to believe that this post he had ignored had come back to haunt him. He wanted to run away from this ghost girl in front of him. He felt he already had enough ghosts hanging around him.

"Um, hello? Are you alright over there? You're just sorta standing with your mouth wide open. Although, I have to admit, it is pretty funny," Honoka said, giggling, putting away her sword and shield.

Opening up her menu screen, she produced a bottle of Healing Potion, as she noticed that Kirito was now in the Yellow Zone after his battle with the Hobgoblins. Tossing the oddly shaped bottle to him**(1)**, she said, "Here, drink this."

Catching the bottle and thaking her for it, Kirito quickly drained the bottle of its contents. Now he had to try to figure out what to say. What could he say? That he was sorry and he was wrong to ignore her Help Request? It sounded pretty damn lame to him.

Finally deciding to simply make sure that this was indeed that Honoka before his mind went crazy, Kirito mustered up all the courage he had in his body and said, "Honoka? You said your name was Honoka, right?"

"Yep, and you better not forget it either!" she responded, flashing him a peace symbol with her right hand, while her mouth broke out in a large, toothy grin.

Clenching his fists tightly together, he opted not to put it off any longer, as he figured it could only get him in further trouble if he continued to ignore her, so he asked while sheathing his own sword "So are you the one who posted that Help Request in MMO Weekly a few days back?"

Looking down at the ground below her, fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and tears seemingly close to forming in her eyes**(2)**, she responded in an impossibly small voice, "Yeah. But no one responded, so I decided to just go after him myself. But… But I nearly died, and if it weren't for you rescuing me from those Hobgoblins, I definitely would have died just now."

Kirito found himself unable to make eye contact with this girl, and soon he to was also staring at the dirt covered ground of the cave. He couldn't help but feel guilty for not responding to her request the moment had seen it. _This was just like what happened with Klein_ he thought. _I abandoned him and his friends because I was selfish. I was just trying to make sure I could survive in this world. I didn't care about anyone else. So I didn't help him even though I could have_**(3)**_._

Going over to where Honoka was, who had just now collapsed on the ground in tears a few feet in front of him, he plopped down right in front of her with his head down, shoulders sagged. The shadows created by the illuminated torches were long, and gave an almost spooky affect to the area they were sitting in, and helped to hide his face. "I saw that post." he said.

"Huh?" Honoka said, looking up at Kirito. She searched for an answer in his eyes, but was unable to see his face at all as his long bangs, along with the constantly flickering shadows created by the torches, covered the entirety of his face in darkness. Listening a bit more closely, she thought she may have even heard him crying a little.

"I saw your post in MMOW. But I ignored it," Kirito said through clenched teeth, a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice. "I thought… I thought that if there was someone really trapped in the Floor 2 Dungeon, that a guild or someone would come across him eventually. So I just ignored it, because I'm a coward," he said, his voice contorted, a few tears falling from his face.

"Kirito," Honoka cried, her hands now covering her mouth**(4)**, a new wave of tears overflowing from her already red and puffy eyes.

The next thing he knew, this girl he had just met flung herself at him, hugging him tightly, and whispered in his ear, "It's okay that you didn't respond. We're all scared of dying in this virtual world, so you didn't want to take a risk that you didn't have to. It's fine. I don't blame you. It was a natural response."

Kirito's eyes widened in shock as she said those things to him, but he let this girl continue to hold him. And soon enough, he was holding as well, his head buried against her chest**(5)**, crying uncontrollable against her, letting out all of his fear, pain and frustration he had felt ever since this game of death created by Kayaba Akihiko had begun. But Honoka just continued to hold onto him, this boy who had just saved her life.

The two just sat there, holding onto each for support, and continued to cry, no one but the light of the torches watching them.

_1- I can't be the only one who thinks that thing is weirdly shaped! I mean come on! Look at the thing! I don't even know how to describe it at all! Outside of maybe "glass bottle."_

_2- We can always count on Kirito to make a woman cry, huh?_

_3- Keep in mind that Kirito was still feeling really guilty about abandoning Klein, even after seeing him again for the first time on Floor 28 late at night, and even when he fought Heathcliff on the 75__th__ Floor. So this guilt factor will likely be a recurring theme for awhile to come. Sorry if you dislike that, but I feel it's a major part of what drives Kirito._

_4- Seriously, why do girls always cover their mouths like that?_

_5- You perverts know what I mean._

_Well this was a bit of a challenging chapter for me to write as I'm not exactly a touchy feely person myself. But I think did a decent job conveying their emotions and thoughts to you guys. What did you all think? _

_So what did you guys think of Kirito and this girl all of a sudden crying like they did? OOC for Kirito? Too early in the relationship between the two to be doing something like asking for support from each other already? Please feel free to tell me! It can only help me as this story continues on down the road._

_By the way, if you are reading this, that means that we didn't all die on December 21__st__ of 2012, so hah! Take that Mayan Calendar that predicted we'd all die! I knew it wasn't real!_

_Well thank you all for reading _**Sword Art Online: A Re-Telling **_chapter 4! You're opinions mean a lot to me, so feel free to give me any criticism. I hope you all continue to ReadxReview! Bye now!_


	5. Ch 5: Floor 2(Part 5)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Now I just want to take a moment to explain Kirito's OOC in the last chapter. First, it will lead to him being more in-character later on. Secondly, Kirito has gone through several difficult events in just a period of roughly 35-40 days. He learned from Kayaba Akihiko that this game he had waited to play once more could very well kill him. He abandoned his first ever friend in this world, to try to better survive in this world. He became a beater, basically putting himself in the spotlight of hatred in the eyes of several thousand players. He told Asuna to join a guild, something he can now no longer do, being a beater, and quite likely the most famous one of all. Add in that in my story, he thought he'd abandoned Honoka as well, he's gone through a lot in not that much a span of time. And who has he had to talk to in all this time? The guilt inside of him is just sitting there, becoming greater and greater, so seeing Honoka practically out of nowhere was the tipping point of a mind that was basically already there._

_So I hope that explains to you guys the choices I made for Chapter 4, so sorry to anyone who didn't really like it._

_Well anyway, welcome back to my first ever fanfiction story guys! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 4, because as I said before, it was a bit of a pain to write, but let's not turn this into a rant from me._

_For once I actually have no questions to ask you all, so let's move onto what you guys actually came here for! Onwards with Kirito's(and for the moment Honoka's) adventure!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 5)**

After what felt like an eternity for him, Kirito finally removed his head from Honoka's chest**(1)**. Slowly, the two players removed themselves from the other person. Soon enough, the two were just sitting directly in front of one another, staring awkwardly at the ground, a weird sense of tension filled the air between the two.

"I uh, I'm sorry about that. That was just kind of random, huh?" Kirito said, continuing to stare at the floor.

"It's alright. It's not like you were the only one crying you know," Honoka replied, wiping away a stray tear that remained on her face.

The two remained sitting there in silence for a few more minutes before Kirito finally stood up and broke the silence.

"Anyway, now that we're done with all of that, we should probably go help that friend of yours that's stuck here," Kirito said, extending his hand to help Honoka up.

Taking his hand gratefully, she pulled herself up and dusted herself off. "You're right, we've spent a long time here, huh? Let's get going then," Honoka replied.

The two players were now walking side by side down the straight tunnel, weapons on their backs ready to be drawn should another enemy approach them.

Kirito was still a bit confused about how Honoka managed to help him though. When he charged at those Hobgoblins he was sure that her HP was well in the red zone, she maybe had 3 or 4 pixels of HP left. He wrestled with himself over whether or not to ask her about it, but his curiosity won out in the end and he asked straight out turning his head slightly to look at her, "Hey Honoka, I was wondering. How were you able to help me back there? When I jumped in I was sure that you nearly lost all of your HP."

"Oh, that? It was simple, I just took a Healing Potion while you were fighting. I guess you didn't realize it but you were fighting those Hobgoblins for a good amount of time. It was just enough to let me recover almost all of my HP," she answered, tilting her own heads towards the black clothed figure walking alongside her.

After that, the two continued to walk along in silence, each collecting their own thoughts.

Kirito was unsure of whether or not to trust this person. Sure, he just spent a rather warm and overlyfuzzy moment with this girl, but that one thing alone was not about to make him trust a near stranger. Even if he did save her life, and she saved his, he still had no idea who this girl was outside of her being the person to ask for help in MMOW.

And just like Kirito, Honoka was having her doubts as well. She figured that he couldn't possibly be all bad. He did jump in to save her life after all. But the way he dressed, pretty much in as much black as he could possibly put on, it sure didn't help to give him a friendly disposition. But until he gave her a solid reason to not trust him, she was going to. At the very least she knew she had to until he helped her save him. After fighting those Hobgoblins, she had to question her ability to rescue him on her own, so she still felt a lot safer having this strong player tagging along.

"Hey Kirito, what level are you? I know it's a bit rude to just outright ask like that, but if we're gonna travel together like this I'd like to know you're strength," Honoka asked, crossing her arms behind her head.

Kirito placed his hand on his chin, pondering as to whether or not to tell her his real level, but he figured that he couldn't be that much higher of a level than anyone by only the 2nd Floor, so he decided to answer her truthfully.

"I'm level 15, just reached it yesterday," he told her, opening his menu to check out hi gear.

"Level 15, huh? That's not too much higher than me, I'm level 11. Of course, I'm not out all night trying to power level like you probably are," Honoka snickered, doing her best to suppress the urge to laugh at this person.

"H-Hey! I'm just trying to make sure that I can survive in this world. Better to be overlevelled than underlevelled right?" Kirito responded hastily. He knew he was no good with girls, but this was ridiculous. Speaking of girls, this was his first good look at one since his partying with Asuna to defeat the 1st Floor boos.

Honoka was an above average height girl he noticed, as he noticed she was at least an inch or two taller than himself. She was dressed in a simple pink tunic with a bright red skirt underneath. White stockings trailed all the way up her thighs, and brown leather boots went about halfway up her calves. It was more or less the starting gear you got when you first enter Aincrad, which was pretty unusual considering that there were better options available to players by this point. However, her weapons were strong. She had a Silver Sword just like Kirito, and had the best shield that he knew of that a player could obtain by Floor 2, the matching Silver Buckler. He figured that she must have spent most of her Col**(2)** on weapons and Healing Potions rather than buying better gear. He was tempted to ask just to make sure, but decided not to further invade her privacy with yet another question.

Several more minutes of silence passed as the two just continued to walk down the cave. The flickering light of the torches barely reached to five feet on either side of them, and as such visibility in the cave was near zero. Honoka assumed that Kirito had Night Vision as one of his abilities, as he didn't seem to have any trouble seeing far away. She wasn't as lucky though, with only 3 Skill Slots, and having filled one of them with Cooking Skill as soon as she had entered this world hoping to make yummy food, her actual combat abilities were limited to Tracking and One-Handed Swords. Luckily, only two Hobgoblins appeared during their walk, both of which were alone, and between the two of them, they were easily defeated in seconds.

A little while later, still walking in silence, the pair stumbled upon a fork in the cave system. There were three caves up ahead of them, but Honoka knew her friend could only have gone through one of these. The choices were a 45 degree turn that went either left or right, and one cave that went directly up ahead. All three caves looked identical in shape, size, and darkness, so there was no way of trying to determine the best cave to go through.

"Kirito, let me pull out my map, I have my friend's position marked on it," Honoka said, pulling out her menu screen and producing a map within it.

"Hmm… It seems that he's directly up ahead, so I guess that's route we should take," Honoka surmised after taking a look at her map.

"Do you mind if we go left instead?" Kirito asked, his right hand covering his chin.

"Why's that? The map says he's straight up ahead, so wouldn't the most likely scenario be to just keep going in that direction?" Honoka answered in a quizzical tone.

"That's what the developers want you to think. But think for yourself for just a moment. Have we been walking straight down that last tunnel or were we turning just a little bit at a time?" Kirito said in bit of an arrogant voice, pointing his finger at her.

"I guess you do have a point. We weren't walking totally straight down that cave, or at least I'm pretty sure we didn't," Honoka said, sighing.

Kirito gave a bit of a grin in triumph, but he wasn't exactly sure if he was right. He had learned during the Beta Test that the caves of the 2nd Floor Dungeon tended to curve just ever so slightly, that you would never notice unless you were extremely careful. However, it didn't fully justify moving either left or right rather than straight forward as Honoka had suggested, but he still felt confident that continuing forward was not the right answer.

Placing a hand on her hip, Honoka looked right at Kirito and asked, "So then which way should we go smart guy? Left or right?"

Breaking out in a bit of a cold sweat, he replied while scratching the back of his head, "Umm… Ini-meennee-mini-mo**(3)**?"

"I should have known you would have no idea which way was right. Well then I'll just pick. I say we go left," Honoka replied confidently.

"And what makes you say left rather than right?" Kirito asked.

"Trust me on this, it's a girl's intuition afterall," Honoka replied, winking at him.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Kirito said, slouching over a little, a small frown beginning to form on his lips.

"Oh come on! Let's go already! Time's a wasting!" Honoka cried.

Grabbing him by the hand, she quickly rushed into the left cave, poor Kirito half running and half being dragged behind her.

_1- Again, you perverts know what I mean._

_2- Col is the form of money in Aincrad. I'm going with the scale that 1 Col = 1 US Dollar because I remember that Asuna's house cost her 4 Million Cor, and that house, considering the furniture and the area it was bought in, did look like a $4,000,000 home to me. If anyone knows the exact amount, please inform me. Otherwise, that's what I'm sticking with._

_3- How the heck do you spell that anyway?_

_Finally finished with that chapter! This is probably my longest chapter yet I think. If not, it's for sure the second longest chapter I've written so far, but anything for my readers, because without you guys there would be absolutely no point in writing this story of mine. Or at the very least far less of a point._

_Sorry to anyone who was hoping for more battles by this point in the story. I understand I've only really had 1 chapter out of 5 really be a big battle, but I promise you that there will be some big battles in my story. Maybe not in the next couple of chapters, but I promise, there's going to be some big battles within the week as I hope to be able to update daily, and with my winter break starting the end of my school day tomorrow, I'll have plenty of time to write backup chapters if there are days I'm unable to write a chapter. So I hope you all can wait until then!_

_Anyway, I hope you all will continue to follow my story here, I think it's turning out pretty well so far. Of course, that's ultimately up to all of you guys to decide, as even if the author thinks it's a good story, book, movie, whatever, it doesn't matter if his or her audience does not enjoy it._

_Well that's all I have to say guys. I hope that all of you will continue to follow _**Sword Art Online: A Re-Telling**_, and please remember to ReadxReview!_


	6. Ch 6: Floor 2(Part 6)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Alright folks, we're back with Chapter 6! I'm glad we're up to here, I did not think I'd make it that far, but we have, and I wanna thank you guys because without your support I would not be doing this at all._

_Now then, as usual I have a question for you guys(not that I tend to get many responses but one or two are enough for me to think things over with). Would you prefer that I continue with the single 1500 word(on avg, but that's taking into account the entirety of the chapter, including Author's Notes I include at the end and beginning of each story) chapter per day, or would you rather I post twice a week a longer, 4000-5000 word chapter? I've been mulling that over ever since I started making this story, and I was hoping for a few opinions on the matter._

_The advantages to option one, posting 1500 word chapters daily, is that you guys get a chapter a day, and are never really in any long waiting periods. The disadvantage is that the story telling does not get to be quite as well thought through, as I tend to write the chapters only one or two days in advance, so I don't always get to see things in a different light, and make the little changes that can help a story out a lot._

_The advantages to option two, two 4000-5000 word chapters a weekly, are that you get a longer chapter to read when it's posted. I can also think things through a little more with more time between chapters to make the subtle changes that I can't always do with option one. The disadvantages however, are that you don't get daily chapter, and I don't know about you guys but I like my fanfiction stories to update regularly. I remember a couple years ago when I was keeping up with different stories that I hated even a two or three day wait for new chapters. You also don't get quite as much content per week as compared to the 1500 word daily chapters, as daily chapters would average around 10500 words a week vs the two longer 4000-5000 word weekly chapters that would average 9000 total words of content per week._

_Anyway, please tell me what you all think. I'm fine with either posting strategy, so please give me your honest feedback on this._

_Moving on, who else just finished watching the SAO Anime yesterday? I did and I have to say that overall, I was pretty satisfied with the anime. The ALO Arc is a bit of a letdown though. I felt they animated the SAO Arc better, though in my personal opinion the ALO Arc is honestly the weakest Arc of all four Arcs(SAO, ALO, GGO and Alicization). But I'm still very satisfied with it overall, and I really hope that it goes onwards and animates the GGO Arc. Even if they don't though, I'd still give the SAO Anime a solid 7.68 out of 10._

_How did I arrive at that seemingly random number? I give the SAO Arc of the anime a 9, the ALO Arc a 6. SAO Arc had 14 episodes, the ALO Arc had 11. 14 X 9 = 126, 11 X 6 = 66, 126 + 66 =192, 192/25=7.68. That's how I arrived at the seemingly very random of 7.68. I'd recommend it highly to my friends or anyone who likes anime._

_That's all I can think of to say, so I guess it's story time guys. Enjoy Chapter 6!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 6)**

Kirito and Honoka continued down the cave that Honoka had chosen using her "girl's intuition." She had finally let go of his hand, as she had noticed after a couple minutes of running he was unable to regain his footing, being dragged by her as he was. She felt a bit guilty having done that to him, but had made no attempt to console the somewhat ill looking Kirito as of yet.

"Hey, Kirito, if we're gonna be travelling together like we are, how about forming a party? We haven't done that yet after all, and it'll be easier for me to see your HP bar and judge any dangerous situations we might come across," Honoka said out loud as the two continued walking.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I guess it must have slipped my mind. Thanks for reminding me about that," Kirito replied, opening up his player menu.

Messing with his menu, he went into the Party Tab and clicked the "Form New Party" button. Selecting Honoka as the target to join the Party, a white screen popped up in front of the female player. Honoka pressed the "OK" button, and right after she did another HP bar popped up under both players own HP bars depicting the name of the other Party member just under it. The Party of Kirito and Honoka was now official.

"I'm surprised that there haven't been any monsters popping up yet. Normally we would have encountered at least two or three Hobgoblins," Honoka noted as the two continued walking down the sparsely lit cave.

"Hmmm. You're right. Why aren't there any monsters spawning around here? Even walking down that other cave we fought two groups of two Hobgoblins. This is weird," Kirito said, scratching his head.

He was unsure of whether or not to reveal his guess as to why this was, as it might tip her off that he was a former Beta Tester, but figured what he was about to say was rather common information. So, hoping for the best, he continued talking.

"My best guess is that this must be a trap somewhere in this part of the Dungeon, and the game is waiting for us to trigger it. Unfortunately for us, it must be a pretty deadly trap if there aren't any monsters spawning at all though" he said, a small sweat drop forming on his head.

No sooner had Kirito said it than the trap was activated. He felt his foot give way a couple inches underneath him, and a small part of the cave floor under his foot glowed a bright white color as he pulled his foot back.. A rumbling sound soon followed, and a second later, a huge boulder came barreling down right at the two of them**(1)**.

"Aaahhhh!" the two players screamed, running in the opposite direction that they initially were coming from.

Running at full speed, the two players did their best to remain in front of the boulder that would surely kill them if it hit.

"Darn it Kirito! You had to jinx it didn't you!? I'd heard of people activating a trap like this, but I've never actually seen it! This must be why we weren't encountering any monsters!" Honoka cried, running a little bit faster.

"Less talking more running!" Kirito shouted back, also picking up his own pace a little.

Kirito's mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to escape the speeding boulder. For the moment, it was still about twenty feet away from them, but it was going faster than they were, and he knew it would catch up to them sooner rather than later.

Using his Searching Skill to check around the cave, he tried to find some sort of escape route. Having played the Beta, he knew this game was more or less fair to all players, so a trap without a way out was just too unfair even for that man to have added into the game.

Soon enough, as he had determined, he spotted a way out of his and Honoka's current predicament. There was a small gap in the cave wall to their right not too far ahead of them they could duck into. It seemed just large enough to him for two players to fit into, and with the cave's entrance at least several more minutes away, and that boulder gaining fast, Kirito knew it was their best chance of surviving.

"Honoka, listen to me! There's a gap in the cave wall we can probably fit into up ahead. There's no way we can outrun this thing! It's our only chance! So when I say so, turn right as fast as you can!" Kirito yelled, keeping his eyes glued to the gap in the wall.

"But what if you mis-time it!? Or what if it isn't large enough to hold both of us!?" Honoka cried worriedly.

"Would you rather be flattened to death!? There's no way we're gonna outrun this thing, we still have way too long to go before we reach the cave exit. Just trust me on this!" Kirito yelled.

"Alright!" Honoka responded, nodding her head, and adding in under her breath, 'Don't have much of a choice right now."

"What was that? I didn't hear you!" Kirito yelled.

"N-Nothing!" she responded sheepishly, giving him a nervous smile.

Kirito continued to watch as the gap came closer to them. Twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten. But the boulder was gaining fast as well, now just a mere fifteen away as well. He wasn't sure if they'd make it in time.

Finally, the time to turn came, with the boulder now just five feet behind them.

"Turn now!" Kirito yelled, breaking right as sharply as he could.

Honoka was right behind him, turning quickly as well. The two just barely fit in the gap, and the boulder zipped right on past them, missing Honoka's back by mere inches. They felt the wind rush by as it went past their little shelter.

Seconds later, the boulder was out of sight, and the two breathed a collective sigh of relief as they slumped to the ground, breathing heavily**(2)**. Resting a bit as they let themselves recollect their minds and their bodies, Kirito made a stupid comment.

"A girl's intuition, huh?" he said, still trying to catch his breath, his head resting on his knees.

"Hey! You had every opportunity to stop me if you wanted too. And besides, I wasn't technically wrong, we're still alive aren't we?" Honoka yelled defensively, in a bit of a pouty voice. She was messing with her hair as well as brushing off the dirt that had gotten on her clothes.

"Okay, okay. We are, that's true, but now we have to find a way out of here," Kirito grumbled, getting up and dusting off his pants.

Extending a hand towards Honoka, who took it gratefully, the two tried to decide on what to do next.

"If we continue down the way we were originally going, we'll likely face more dangerous booby traps," Kirito said, placing a hand on his chin, leaning against the cave wall.

"But there's no point in going back the way we came from. Even when the boulder reached the end of the cave, it remains for 48 hours, or at least it has with every other boulder trap that's been activated so far. And those things are damn near indestructible at our levels, believe me, I've seen players try. So trying to break apart the boulder with our weapons wouldn't work either," Honoka observed.

"Well, I guess we know where we're heading then," Kirito said, removing himself from the side of the cave.

"I guess so," Honoka replied, sighing.

The two swordsmen walked quietly as they walked back the way that the boulder had come from.

"Oh, Kirito, do me a favor though," Honoka said, as they were walking.

"What's that?" he asked, looking at her.

"Don't set off anymore booby traps," she said giggling, and skipping, went a few yards ahead of a caught off guard Kirito.

"H-Hey! That boulder trap was not my fault! How was I supposed to know it was there!?" Kirito cried, chasing after the skipping girl.

_1- Did you guys really think I wasn't going to use this trap after talking about the Indiana Jones movies in Chapter 3 when I was describing the traps of the 2__nd__ Floor Dungeon?_

_2- While the players can never run out breath in SAO, or at least according to the novel translations I've read, in the anime it was shown that they do still breathe hard after a wild run like that._

_Well that was a pretty fun chapter to write, and hopefully it was just as fun for you guys to read. I love that trap, but I doubt it'll ever be showing up again. So sadface…_

_But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 6 of _**Sword Art Online: A Re-Telling**. _See you all in Chapter 7!_

_Remember to continue to ReadxReview! And let's all hope A-1 Pictures decides to pick up SAO again and animate the GGO Arc! And the Alicization Arc when it's done!_


	7. Ch 7: Floor 2(Part 7)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Sorry for the bombardment of Author Notes last chapter guys(only 62.6% of text in Chapter 6 was actual story, whereas the overall story is at 69% of total words is actual story. Yes, I actually did out that math)! I promise to do better in future chapters but how to update this story is a majorly important point for me!_

_Whoo! Passed the 10,000 Total Words mark with the posting of Chapter 6 yesterday, not too shabby. Now moving on to Chapter 7!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 7)**

After their near brush with death not too long ago, the two players weren't feeling too eager to move forward, but knew they had to save Honoka's friend. So they moved on deeper into the cave they had chosen, albeit a bit more cautious than ever now.

Kirito continued to use his Searching Skill**(1)** to try to detect any booby traps, but it was not yet very high, and he knew it, so he wasn't really sure just how useful it would really be.

"Well, it looks clear enough for now, but with my Searching skill as low as it is it's probably not too reliable, so still be careful where you walk," Kirito told Honoka as they cautiously moved down the dimly lit cave.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up," she replied, moving gingerly, her hand pressed against the side of the wall.

After that latest trap, neither player was very eager to activate another, possibly even deadlier trap. The two had been moving practically on their tip toes ever since, and every little noise set them off. The dim lighting of the cave didn't help matters. If it weren't for Kirito's Night Vision skill, the two would have been practically blind if they tried to look more than a few feet ahead of themselves.

"H-Hey, Kirito?" Honoka asked.

"What's up? Did you see something?" he replied, still constantly darting his eyes left and right in search of any hidden boobytraps.

"No, but I was wondering, what other traps do you think there are in here? Like you said earlier, it's pretty likely that there are still more traps left here. Any ideas what they could be?" she answered back, her voice showing her nervousness, but at the same time containing a bit of curiosity.

Kirito felt rather reluctant to respond. During the Beta Test he'd heard of a few players who had managed to get past the boulder trap without exiting the cave they were in, but these players had never shared their experiences beyond that. At the time it annoyed most of the other players a bit, but when one of those players found the Boss Room at the end of one of those caves, no one bothered to pursue the matter further.

"Hmm… Maybe pitfalls would be a likely one, but then how would they program it so that we could escape from those? Another one could be walls that close in on us with spikes, and we have to solve some kind of puzzle to stop the walls from moving towards us," Kirito grinned, a mischievous gleam in his dark eyes.

"Kirito! I'm serious here!" Honoka yelled, shaking her arms up and down**(2)**.

"Okay, okay, calm down. There's not much point in guessing what traps there are. So if we do trigger a trap, which hopefully we won't, but if we do, we'll deal with it then and no sooner. All this guessing is just gonna get us more wound up than we need to be," Kirito replied calmly, his eyes turning to face Honoka who had seemed to become a bit frightened at the possible traps he had suggested.

Nodding her head in a curt reply, Honoka did her best to keep her fears to herself. She couldn't help but wonder if her friend had been caught in a dangerous trap, or if he was simply in a safe zone. With Kirito by her side though, she felt a bit better, but she still wasn't sure if she could trust this person.

Her fears of any possible new traps were unfounded though. A few minutes later the two emerged into a large room in the cave system, and no further traps were encountered.

The room was shaped like a dome, with the highest point in the ceiling being at least 100 feet in the air. The walls were lined with several rows of brightly lit torches, a stark contrast to the dimly lit, sparsely spread torches that were in the cave they had just exited. There were two caves next to the one they had exited, and the two figured that they must have been other sets of caves that led to the area as well.

And at the end of the large room, was a set of large, double doors. They were a dark blue color, and the handles were large brass rings. The two instinctively knew that it was the Boss Room.

"Finally, we're out of that cave! That took us forever!" Honoka cried out happily, stretching out her arms and legs a little bit.

"This is no time to celebrate Honoka. Sure we're out of the cave now, and sure we found the Boss Room, but where the heck is your friend?" Kirito said, crossing his arms.

"You're right. Let me check my map," she said as she messed around with her menu screen.

'This is odd," Honoka said out loud.

"What's the matter?" Kirito asked, crossing over to take a look at her map.

"According to my map, my friend is right on top of us," Honoka said, her right hand lightly cupping her chin in a questioning manner.

As she said it, several square holes opened up on the cave walls, and one at the highest point of the ceiling. Several Hobgoblins came out of the holes, and from the hole at the top of the ceiling a cage was slowly lowered down.

Both players quickly pulled out their weapons and were ready to fight against this horde of enemies. But both knew they probably couldn't win against these types of numbers.

Kirito continued to count the number of Hobgoblins falling from the holes, and he easily counted at least thirty of them. A few seconds later, the rain of Hobgoblins had stopped, and Kirito figured there were easily fifty of them, maybe even more.

"Honoka, is that your friend up there?" Kirito asked, as he tried to count exactly just how many Hobgoblins there were.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it. The map showed that he was on top of us, so it has to be him," Honoka replied, her eyes fierce with determination.

"How do we help him though? He's all the way up there after all. And there's probably about fifty Hobgoblins. We both nearly died fighting just four of these things alone, and it took both of us to handle them. Now we'd each have to take on 25 of these things each," Kirito said in a hushed tone.

"But, he's my friend! We have to help him somehow!" Honoka yelled back, her sword trembling in her grip.

Kirito tried to remember something like this happening back in the Beta Test, but he wasn't able to recall this ever happening on any of the nine floors that they had managed to clear in that one month span. Just like how the 1st Floor's Boss had changed its final weapon, they must have made a few tweaks to the 2nd Floor as well. And this army of Hobgoblins was likely it, here to prevent any small amount of players from trying to take on the Boss alone.

He deuced that this was meant to weaken any Boss Raids, and if they left the area to head back to town, the Hobgoblins would simply respawn for the next group. A devious trap indeed.

Then a voice form above yelled down at the two greatly outnumbered players.

"Honoka! I don't know who that is with you, but take him and go! You can't handle this many enemies at once! This must be a trap set up by the game to make any Boss Raid group weaker!" the person in the cage yelled down at them.

"But-" Honoka tried to yell back, but was cut off.

"No buts Honoka! Get out of here! I don't think the AI is programmed to kill me unless there's a failed attempt at fighting these guys! Now go!" he yelled back at her.

Her whole body shaking, Honoka said to Kirito in a low voice, "Come on Kirito, let's go. We can't help him like this. Not just the two of us. We have to go."

Nodding his head, he returned his Silver Sword to its sheath. "Come on, we'll take one of the other two cave systems, if we go back the way we went, we'll be at a dead end because of the boulder trap."

The two players ran into the middle cave, running down it with every bit of speed their bodies could muster.

The two did not talk the whole way down the cave, and when they finally exited that cave, Honoka was still quiet. Kirito thought he had seen a few tears fall from her face as they ran down the cave, but he didn't want to ask her about anything just yet.

Instead, the two just left the 2nd Floor Dungeon. The game seemed to sense their mood, as not even a single enemy popped up as they walked out of the rather long and expansive Dungeon.

When the two finally did exit, Honoka fell to the ground, her face in tears, and she screamed helplessly at a sky filled with beautiful, yet lonely stars.

_1- For those wondering, Kirito has 3 skill slots, and his current skills are One-Handed Swords, Night Vision and Searching. He'll gain a slot every 10 levels, so at level 20, 30, 40 etc., you get a skill slot, and for 500,000 Col you can buy a slot, which is how he's gonna have 12 at only level 90 when he shouldn't have 12 until level 100._

_2- Oh how I wish I was able to animate the part from Kirito talking about possible traps to Honoka's reaction, it'd be hilarious. A-1 Pictures and Reki Kawahara, please hire me to write a separate SAO Anime series with all the events of all the floors not covered by the current anime, manga and light novels!_

_Well, a bit of a cliffhanger here. How will Kirito and Honoka try to save her friend now? How will Kirito handle this now crying Honoka? And where is the announcement for a GGO Arc of the SAO Anime already! Damnit I want to see that arc! I want to see Kirito as a female looking male avatar! Gah! This sucks!_

_Oh, and last thing, as a treat for it being Christmas tomorrow, you're going to get two chapters instead of one. Merry Christmas!_

_Thanks for reading _**Sword Art Online: A Re-Telling **Chapter 7! _Please continue to ReadxReview!_


	8. Ch 8: Floor 2(Part 8)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Well first off I suppose I should wish you all a Merry Christmas, and for any of you who are offended because Christmas is Christian and you are another religion, please get the stick out of your ass, for pete's sake, it's a holiday and no one means to offend anyone when they say it so deal with it._

_Anyway, please enjoy the first of the two chapters being posted today._

**Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 8)**

The two players had just entered an NPC restaurant and were sitting there quietly, barely looking over the menu. It was rather modest, everything made completely of wood. The chairs were also just simple oak wood, no padding or cushion to make it more comfortable. It made sense, considering this was a low level floor's restaurant. The food was also pretty bland and tasteless, but he didn't come here for a good meal. The real reason Kirito had led Honoka here was to get some privacy, as it was not a popular restaurant due to the minimalist furniture and less than extravagant food.

Kirito sat there, stealing quick glances at a still slightly crying Honoka while quietly sipping some water the waitress had brought over. Her ragged breathing had returned mostly to normal, but her eyes were still puffy and red.

He wanted to comfort her like she had comforted him earlier in the dungeon, but knew anything he said at the moment would simply go in one ear and out the other with her.

When the waitress came over, Kirito ordered some bread and soup for the both of them. Finally deciding to try to talk to her, he cleared his throat.

"Honoka, I'm sure he's going to be fine. I just made the map data on how to get to the Boss Room public information. I'm sure the clearing group is gonna hold a meeting tomorrow and discuss what to do. It shouldn't take more than two or three days before we go in and try to beat the Boss," he told the sullen girl, twirling a fork in one hand, his head resting in the other as he looked out the window at the starry sky.

"Saving your friend will probably end up being more of a secondary objective for the group, but as long as we beat those Hobgoblins in one shot he should be fine, he told us that himself," Kirito told her as their food arrived.

Just after the two had returned to the 2nd Floor's main town, Glenden, he had gone up to the bulletin board that was located in the center of every main town and put up the map information leading to the boss room there, before taking Honoka here.

Kirito continued to look at the girl, hoping for a response, but found none in her emotionless expression. Her eyes were empty, void of any emotion. Her face seemed a bit paler than usual, but he figured that he'd never even gotten a real good look at her in the cave anyway, so maybe this was her natural skin tone in the first place. Her hair also appeared to be a slightly different color. In the cave, it looked like it was a light brown, but now in the brightly lit room of the restaurant he clearly saw that it was more of a dark crimson.

The two just sat there in silence, nibbling at their now somewhat cold soup and bread every now and then. Sighs were coming from Honoka every now and then, but whenever Kirito had attempted to ask what was wrong, she never answered, and instead she would eat a spoonful or two of her soup.

After about half an hour, the two finished their food, and were just sitting there. Kirito busied himself with tapping his fingers on the table, taking an occasional glance at Honoka.

She was still looking down at her hands, which she had folded in her lap. Her breathing was normal now, and her eyes were no longer red or puffy, but the sense of atmosphere radiating from her was best put in one word, sadness.

"Come on, let's go. It's getting pretty late, we should head in for the night," Kirito said, getting up from his chair and stretching out his limbs.

"Nnn," was the only reply that escaped her lips, as she stood up as well.

She stood up too quickly though, and it knocked her chair down to the floor. A purple screen appeared saying that the chair was an immortal object, and Honoka bent down to pick it up.

As the two walked out of the restaurant, Kirito couldn't help but admire the beautiful night sky. Even after the depressing day they had just had, even after nearly being killed by those Hobgoblins and even after failing to save Honoka's friend, that picture gave him a sense of hope.

The sky was a brilliantly deep, dark blue, rather than the pitch black that it normally was. The stars were out in full force, and he was sure that if he had bothered to pay attention to his little sister when she had pointed them out to him, he would have been able to spot several constellations in the sky right now. The moon was full and it was a pure white color, giving off the impression of a pearl in that breathtaking night sky. Kirito wished that he could get Honoka to notice it as well, but she continued to stare at her feet as they walked.

"Kirito?" Honoka squeaked.

"Huh? What is it Honoka?" Kirito wanted to respond with more, as worried as he was, but didn't want to risk it with her in such a fragile state of mind.

"He said that he wouldn't die if there wasn't a failed attempt to defeat those Hobgoblins, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah, right. What about it?" he asked stopping and turning to face her.

"If-if that's true, then wouldn't us bringing out those Hobgoblins have counted as a failed attempt to beat them?" she said in a very small voice.

Kirito didn't know how to answer. He wasn't sure if it did or not. The Hobgoblins had come out to fight them, that was true, but at the same time, they didn't move towards the two of them at all. So it shouldn't have counted as a battle. But he couldn't be sure, this had never appeared in the Beta Test at all.

It was times like this he wished his friend and information broker, Argo the Rat**(1)**, was around. She seemed to know about everything and anything, as long as you had the money to pay her for what you wanted to know.

"I don't think so, since the Hobgoblins didn't attack us. I'm sure he's fine," Kirito finally answered, releasing the breath he had been holding while thinking about it.

"Thanks," she said, walking over to a nearby inn.

"I'm gonna crash here tonight, what about you?" she asked him, opening up the door of the small inn.

"I rented the basement of a nearby cottage. I'll be spending the night there," Kirito responded, giving her a light smile.

"You're welcome to come over if you want to," he added on.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine. Goodnight Kirito. Let's meet up in the square in the center of town tomorrow, okay?" Honoka said, giving him a curt wave of her hand as she stepped into the inn.

"Goodnight Honoka. I'll see you tomorrow then," he said, waving his hand back.

Once she was out of sight, Kirito ran out to the shopping center of the second floor. He bought a few healing potions and a new Silver Sword and left. He also went to a nearby food stand and bought a couple loaves of black bread and water.

His shopping done, he ran out of Glenden towards the fields. He was determined to help Honoka rescue her friend now, and he knew that he'd have to become stronger to do it. So he decided during dinner to level himself up over the next few days until the clearing group finished making plans on how to tackle the Boss Room.

He spotted a group of four Goblins on the dirt road ahead of him, and he charged them, screaming at the top of his lungs in defiance of this deadly world.

_1- Argo the Rat appears in several possibly or possibly not side stories, I've read about her on the sire I read the light novel translations at. She also appears in episode 3 of the anime, and is the person who Kirito is talking to when he's on the bench all depressed after Sachi and the rest died._

_Surprisingly only a single Author's Note this time, I just didn't think there was anything I wanted to say or anything you guys wouldn't understand outside of Argo._

_Anyway, the next chapter will be posted in a couple of hours, just so you guys can fully digest this chapter, and I also want to make sure that Chapter 9 is to my satisfaction, so I wanna go over it one more time._

_So until then, please continue to ReadxReview!_


	9. Ch 9: Floor 3(Part 1)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Welcome to the second chapter of the day folks! I hope you're Christmas has been enjoyable and that you've all gotten some good presents, and here's another one just to make your day that much better._

_Well anyway, time to move onto Chapter 9, so please enjoy!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 3(Part 1)**

Kirito stood there silently, looking at the body of the final enemy explode into fragments of light. He wanted only to distract himself, and as such, he had been out in the fields for what was now the fourth day.

The enemies on Floor 3 were small, devil like creatures**(1)**. They were each around five feet tall, and each one carried either a sickle or a trident. The horns coming from their foreheads were curved like the horns of a ram, and their skin was pitch black. And much like Goblins, they tended to travel in groups.

Kirito had busied himself fighting these creatures for the past four days in a row, taking time only for quick, one or two hour naps, or leaving for the 3rd Floor's main town, Pallet**(2)**, for supplies and food. They gave less than ample amounts of experience and did not provide valuable drops in the least, but t was the least if his worries. He wanted only for this cycle of battle to continue forever, not allowing himself even a moment to think.

He looked around himself, and around the hill he had been on for the past several hours. Besides for a large, menacing black tree placed at the very top of it, there was nothing else there besides for himself. Mindlessly, he walked back down the hill, and surveyed the grounds for new enemies. None appeared.

He had figured this might happen, as it was now the middle of the day, and this was a popular area for lower level players to train and gain a few levels in hopes of becoming strong enough to enter the 3rd Floor's Dungeon with the minimum of level 13 being thought to be the safe zone.

Sheathing his newly purchased Gold Sword, he headed into town to find an inn to sleep at for a little while.

Finding a rather cheap looking inn at the outskirts of the town, he entered, paid for a room, and went directly to his room.

The room contained a twin size bed on a wooden frame. The window was placed against the uttermost wall, giving a good view of the forests that surrounded the 3rd Floor's main town of Pallet. There was a small table placed next to the bed, and in the corner was a full length mirror.

Opening up his menu, he removed any unnecessary equipment and slid underneath the covers of the bed. Right after his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When he was awoken by his in-head alarm, about two hours had passed. He felt no less tired than he had before sleeping, but he was really only sleeping to try to avoid the players in the fields and wait for them o be done with their own leveling.

Re-equipping his items, he thanked the NPC manager that had rented him the room and left. Heading out onto the cobblestone path, he went to an NPC shop and purchased water and some brown bread and cheese, black bread no longer being available starting on Floor 3. He then exited the town going back to the same hill he had been at previously.

He reached his destination in just over ten minutes, not encountering any enemy groups, which he found odd as the guilds and other players had left the area by now. Slumping down against the large tree, he took out his food and quietly munched on it, thinking of nothing else but chewing and swallowing, not wanting to think of what happened not so long ago.

Just as he finished his food, a group of five Mini-Devils as they were called, approached Kirito in a straight line. Pulling out his Gold Sword, he rushed at them Horizontal to finish them all off, as they were relatively weak creatures. Looking around, he saw another group and charged at them as well.

This process continued for several more hours until he finally headed back to town due to hunger and fatigue. The four straight days of fighting were finally getting to him, and he knew it.

Going to a nearby food stall, he purchased a couple of kabobs and juice. Sitting down on a bench in front of a large cedar tree, he wolfed down the food hungrily. It was the first time in awhile he had allowed himself to eat anything but that brown bread with cheese and water.

As he sat there quietly, he heard a player approaching him from behind, but made no attempt to move. When the approaching player finally got there, she leaned her back against the back of the bench and spoke.

"I hear you've just been going around fighting the Mini-Devils that travel in packs ever since entering Floor 3. Why? You should be able to handle the monsters in the 3rd Floor Dungeon easy at your level, so you aren't trying to power level. What happened on Floor 2, Kirito?" asked Argo the Rat.

Argo had an infamous reputation as one of the best information brokers in all of Aincrad, and it was well earned. If you had the money, she could tell you just about anything you wanted to know, and being a former Beta player herself, she had knowledge many other information brokers did not have at this point in the game.

She was a small girl, standing at about five feet tall and weighed maybe 90 pounds soaking wet. Both of her cheeks had three drawn on whisker marks, and she always wore a brown cloak that hid her face. It was easy to spot her if you wanted to because of her interesting fashion choices.

"What does it matter? It's not like you can make any money off of finding out why," Kirito responded, his voice hollow.

"I'm asking you as a friend Kirito, what's wrong?" Argo asked more forcefully.

"I let him die. I told her I wouldn't let him die, but he still did. It's my fault he died, and now she hates me," Kirito answered slowly.

_1- The best way I can think of to describe what the look like is a Sableye, that's a Pokemon, so just look it up, but it's pure black and has two small black horns coming out of its forehead._

_2- Not gonna lie, I'm too lazy to think of my own names and I'm also very uncreative with names, so deal with it._

_Bit of an unconventional way to start Floor 3, but I wanna try this out and see how it works. Don't worry, I will be elaborating on what happened on Floor 2 throughout the rest of Floor 3._

_Anyway, thanks for reading guys, and if you would be so kind, please continue to ReadxReview!_


	10. Ch 10: Floor 3(Part 2)

_Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story._

_Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!_

_Sorry for the late post guys, I was busy today hanging with friends, family, etc., etc., cause you know, I am just that popular. Yeah I'm kidding, I'm not that popular honestly, but anyway, let's not turn this into my personal therapy session on why no one likes me and move onto the actual story here._

_Please enjoy Chapter 10 guys!_

**Sword Art Online: Floor 3(Part 2)**

"Kirito, whatever happened, I'm sure no one hates you for it. And besides, since when did you start caring about what people thought about you?" Argo the Rat asked him, taking a seat on the bench next to him.

"I'm sure she does. I told her I'd save him, and I didn't. If I were her I'd feel like killing me too," he responded, lowering his head.

"And besides, I know she hates me. She told me," he added, sighing deeply.

"Alright, fine, keep thinking that way. But anyway, I do have some spare time. I don't have to meet my client for another half hour, so if you wanna tell me what happened, feel free," Argo said, swinging her feet, whistling quietly to herself.

"Or not, I don't really care," she added, mischievously.

"You heard about the five deaths that happened when fighting the 2nd Floor Boss, right?" Kirito said, not lifting his gaze from the ground.

"Who do you take me for?" she saidpoutingly.

"Guess I should have known. Anyway, moving on, did you ever see a Help Request Post by a player named Honoka? It would have been about nine days ago," he asked Argo, who was now staring up at the starry night sky.

"Of course I did. I keep track of everything and anything that happens in this world, you know that. She was asking for help to save a friend trapped on the 2nd Floor Dungeon, right?" she asked, looking over at Kirito for confirmation, who had shifted his gaze towards the water fountain located in the center of the town.

"Yeah, that's the one. Well, when I was hunting some monsters on the 2nd Floor Dungeon, I happened to run into her," he said, his gaze falling to the ground once more.

"I saved her from a group of Hobgoblins, and then we went searching for her friend. It turns out the 2nd Floor Dungeon had a new twist to it. I'm sure an information broker of your caliber has heard about it," he said, giving her a faint smile.

"Of course," she responded.

"We weren't able to save her friend that time around. So we went with the clearing group and we managed to save her friend-"

"But didn't you just say that you didn't save her friend?" Argo interrupted.

"Continuing, after we saved him, the group had shrunk from 49 to 48, so her friend filled in for the guy who had died. I was arrogant though, I told her that if nothing else, I would make sure her and her friend survived the Boss Fight," he said, lifting his head to the sky.

"He died, during the fight. And I killed him," he continued, tears falling from his eyes.

"What!? But your crystal above your head should be orange then! When a player kills another player, their crystal above their head should be orange for a month!" Argo exclaimed, jumping up from her seat on the bench.

"Okay, maybe 'killed him' was a bit strong, but I am responsible for him dying. When we were fighting, he saved me from an attack that would have definitely killed me if it landed. He pushed me out of the way. But the attack hit him instead, and he died. And after the battle, Honoka was crying, told me she hated me, and ran away" Kirito finished.

Argo returned to her spot on the bench, and the two sat there quietly. The sounds of the town were many, and they heard pretty much everything that was happening. They could hear the sounds of people chattering. The ding the cash registers made when they opened and closed. The roar of the water fountain was loud and clear from where they were sitting.

After a few minutes passed, Argo finally stood up. She moved in front of Kirito, and she slapped him.

Stunned, he stuttered, "Wh-What as that for!?"

"Well I needed to get your attention," she said, huffing and folding her arms over her chest.

"Now listen here mister, you can't go blaming yourself for what happened to him. It was that guy's decision, not yours, to jump in front of that attack. If you go blaming yourself for things like that you'll end up dead before you even realize what happened to you!" she added on, pointing her finger in his face.

"But, if I hadn't-" he tried to say.

"No buts, ors, or ifs about it. You are not responsible for what happened. Now stop beating yourself up about it, I's not like you. You need to be all cold and distant from people, not some overly emotional, ready to cry at any moment kind of guy," she told him, smirking.

"Thanks Argo. That helps, if only a little," he replied, a smile forming on his lips.

"There we are, that's the Kirito I know!" Argo cried, moving her hands behind her back.

"But what do I do about Honoka? She hates me," Kirito asked, looking at Argo for a possible answer.

"I should charge you for this, but I won't," Argo said, as Kirito breathed a small sigh of relief.

"For a person to hate you, they had to have cared about you at one point, right**(1)**? So just figure out a way to get back to that point," Argo advised him.

"Well how am I supposed to do that?" he asked her.

"Oh young, naïve Kirito. That's something you have to figure out on your own. But anyway, I'm out of time to chat. See ya!" she said as she ran towards wherever she needed to go to.

"Argh! Now I'm more confused than before she started talking to me! Darn it!" Kirito yelled helplessly, scratching his head furiously.

He then got up from the bench, walking towards an inn he had potted on his way to the bench. And he thought maybe it was time to try moving on, and find Honoka, so he could apologize.

_1- A friend told me that one day after a rather depressing day and we talked about it. I still don't really understand it, but I'm just stupid. Maybe one of you guys can help me out._

_Well, again, sorry for the late post, but at least it's up! I'll try to do my best tomorrow! I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 10! And I know that's kind of a cheap way to have had Floor 2 end, but hey, it's my story, and I have to leave some of it to your imaginations._

_Oh, and just to torture you all a little more, just so you all know, this is it for Floor 3, and I will be skipping a few Floors, as in straight to Floor 10, where Kirito's Beat testing experience will not be able to help him anymore. So look forward to it all!_

_But a heads-up guys, starting next Wednesday, chapters are gonna be every other day, as I just realized my schedule is going to get REALLY hectic between SATs, finals, etc, so sorry about that! But every other day is still a lot, so I hope it won't inconvenience you guys too much!_

_Anyway, I hope you all continue to ReadxReview my terrible story! See you all tomorrow!_


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